U.S. Pat. No. 4,637,095 discloses an apparatus for removing the skin casing from a sausage. This apparatus comprises two pairs of crosswise disposed drive or advancement rollers for the sausage which are intended to simultaneously longitudinally displace the sausage and rotate it about its longitudinal axis. The apparatus further includes a knife which is intended to produce a longitudinal incision in the one end region of the sausage. In addition, the apparatus disclosed in this US patent specification includes means with gripping rollers which are intended to grip a portion of the skin casing projecting from the end of the sausage and pull the skin casing from the sausage when this is advanced over the gripping rollers under rotation.
In such situations when the sausage has an excess portion of skin casing extending in the axial direction, the apparatus disclosed in the above US publication might possibly function. On the other hand, operational disturbances will most likely occur in such cases when the sausage skin casing has a metal retainer ring about the end portion of the sausage skin casing or if this end portion is so large that no grip can be achieved.